"She was a surrogate mother for all the children who entered her life through day care and friends, and [an] adoptive mother to any animal that crossed her path," said her daughter, Bethany Hinsch, of Fairfax, Virginia. "She was . . . a wonderful friend."

Hinsch, a career day care worker in Freeport, moved to Huntersville, North Carolina, in 2006.

Her interest in cooking was gleaned from her parents, who ran a delicatessen, first in Brooklyn, then in Freeport on Atlantic Avenue, said a family friend, David Vieser of Cornelius, North Carolina.

"Eleanor was a special friend to both me and my wife, Gloria. She . . . introduced us in 1967," Vieser said. "She was a great cook, an avid card player and always took the time to discuss concerns and issues among her children, her friends and the many parents whose children she watched," he said.